Audio Systems: Radio Antenna Location, antenna location, car antennas

Question
Hello Cody:  I appreciate this service and have read through a few entires regarding problems with Car Reception and Antennas.  But I am not sure if I understand what to do in my case because I am not expert at locating things under the hood, etc.

My '95 Jeep Cherokee started to have problems with AM radio reception a couple of years ago.  I was out of work so I didn't pursue the problem.  As with all these things, I just made do for the moment.  Now the reception on most stations has gone down severely to the point where not even FM stations are coming in clearly.

I heard you write about Car Antennas and Boosters.  But I am not sure how to find where my antenna is connected.  Will I find it easily under the hood ( I have tried to locate it with no luck..) or do I need to have something removed so I can work on it.  I am quite unmechanical but I would like to get my radio working again without a lot of hassle or cost since I am only working temp jobs now.

Will I need any special tools or knowledge to proceed?

Thanks for reading.

Answer
Enrique,

 Ok no prob ... there are a few things you can try to get better reception before you result to a new unit, which might be the cause *tuner inside* , but first things is first go out front to where your antenna is inspect everything usually with some looking you can see where the cable comes in through the fender, make sure the cable looks good and no breaks, cracks , cuts ect.. .. also make sure the antenna looks in good condition.. now pull out your radio unit itself, give a quick inspection of the cable from that end and make sure everything is plugged up snuggly and no loose connections or bad places .. ok if everything from there seems fine , the first thing to tackle is an antenna booster , cheap usually 20-35 dollars, sometimes cheaper this wires in very simply just follow directions, usually 3 connections are all that need to be made.. this should help boost your signal , if this fails to work most likly the factory unit is to blame and the tuner is shot, in this case you will need to replace the unit with * i recommend aftermarket* because you can pick up a base level CD am/fm unit for under 100 bucks locally , then all you need is a dash kit, and harness adapter and you back to sound .. hope this helps you out if you need anything else let me know

thanks